Improvement in hook-eyes for wearing apparel and other purposes



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH CHARLES HOWELLS, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OFCOLUMBIA.

Specication forming part of Letters Patent No. 38,483, dated May 12, 1863.

T0 all whom it may concern,.-

Beit known that LJOSEPH CHARLES How- ELLS, of the city of Washington, in the District of Columbia, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Constructing Hooks and Eyes for Wearing Apparel and other Uses; and I hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the ligures and letters of reference marked thereon.

Figure 1 is a perspective elevation of my improved eye. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation with a hook inserted. Fig. 3 is an inverted view of my improved eye. Fig. 4 is a front elevation of the same. Fig. 5 is a view of its application to a Whiflietree, to serve as an eye for the attachment of traces. Fig. 6 represents my improved eyes as attached to and securing a garment by the aid of the hooks B B B. Fig. 7 is a sectional view of my improved eye, showing the angle at which the hook B must enter or be released from the eye before it can be attached or detached.

The nature of my invention consists in providing the eye with a boss, shield, or guard, so as to prevent the detaching of the hook B from the eye, except at the angle at which it was attached, as will be hereinafter set forth and described.

I construct my improved eye out of any suitable material of proper thickness that is prepared in sheets or strips, by means of a punch and die of any desirable size and shape, which may be operated by hand or by machinery, care beingl taken that the punch and die shall be so constructed as to cut the eye out of one piece of metal, and emboss it in such a manner as to form a shield or guard, as seen in Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, letter a. The shield or guard a, thus raised or embossed, obliges the hook B to sustain a certain angle to the eye before it can be attached or detached, as can be seen by reference to the Figs. 2, 5, 6, and 7.

The additional advantages possessed by this eye over those now in use are cheapness in manufacture, increased strength, and their ready ornamentation, for the punch and die can be so engraved as to raiseupon the shield or guard a any device or ligure that may be desired. l

In operating my improved eyes, they are attached to the garment at the holes ee, as seen in Figs. 1, 3, and 6, and the edges of the garment are secured by means of the hooks B B B, as seen in Fig. 6. After the dress or garment is secured, any relaxation ofthe tension of the dress by reason of the shoulders being thrown backward or forward, or any other contortion of the body, will, in the use ot' the ordinary eye, result in the hook becoming detached from the eye, but with the use of my improved eye the hook B plays within the shield or guard a, as seen in Figs. 2 and 6, and cannot be detached unless it attains the angle which it did on entering the eye, and that will not occur without the volition of the person Wearing the garment. Care mustbe taken that the shield or guard must not be raised or embossed so high as to admit the entire hook B, but onl yits point.

Tnis improved eye, as a device for securing carriage-traces to the Whifetree, completely avoids the danger arising from the accidental detachin got' the trace from the whiiletree. As seen in Fig. 5, the eye can be secured to the whiflietree or trace, as convenience may suggest. As an eye in which to insert the hook of a fob-chain that secures a watch, it would be very useful and would add much as au article of decoration.

These improved eyes can be manufactured out of gold or silver when used for ornament, or of sheet-iron, sheet-tin, or sheet-brass.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is-

An eye provided with an embossed surface, constituting a shield or guard for the security and protection of the hook, substantially as set forth.

JOSEPH CHARLES HOWELLS.

Witnesses:

B. D. O. SMITH, THOMAS SoEIvENEE, J r. 

